Simple Mexican

With our Canadian friends, we took a tour of Central Market which was a truly unique experience for them. We decided on the menu for the evening during our tour of the store. We decided on a Mexican theme for the evening. We started with Papaya and Black Bean Salsa and homemade Guacamole with tortilla chips during the cocktail hour. The papaya and black bean salsa is an old favorite that we all just love. You start with some rinsed canned black beans; add some diced fresh papaya, red onion, red pepper, and minced fresh jalapeno. Toss with some fresh lime juice, olive oil, salt and cilantro and you have a colorful, fresh salsa. We have discovered Ina's Guacamole recipe recently and we really enjoy it. Ina uses lemon juice instead of fresh lime juice so it has a mellower taste to it.

We then had Grilled Fish Tacos and refried beans for the entree. We grilled some fresh halibut simply with some olive oil and salt and pepper. We had picked up freshly made tortillas at Central Market which were perfect for holding the fish. We added some shredded Napa Cabbage, a little bit of fresh corn and topped it off with a Chipotle Cream sauce. The Chipotle cream sauce has no cream at all in it - it's made with some Greek Yogurt and diced chipotles in adobo sauce with some extra adobo sauce thrown in to make a perfectly pink sauce. Yummy!

I like making my own refried beans since I can control what goes in them. I do start with canned beans usually, unless I have really planned things out to have the dried beans soak overnight. I saute some onions with garlic and chili powder, add the canned, rinsed pinto beans and chicken broth. When the beans are warmed through about 5 minutes later, I simply mash them to the desired consistency. Season with salt and pepper and garnish with fresh chopped cilantro.

I love the combination of the fish tacos with the refried beans.